#womenentrepreneurs

Nadya Nguyen of HidrateSpark (Sprint ’15) has had a unique entrepreneur’s journey: she first traveled through the Techstars network as a participant in a Twin Cities Startup Weekend and then continued when she was accepted into the Sprint Accelerator in 2015.

HidrateSpark is a connected water bottle that syncs with your phone to track your daily water intake. It’s been called “the water bottle of the future” and has been covered by Fast Company, Forbes, Mashable and Buzzfeed.

Nadya, a 2014 business graduate from University of Minnesota, has entrepreneurship in her blood. Her parents were entrepreneurs in Russia with the mission to help give their children the best opportunities possible.

Now, Nadya and her team at Hidrate are building ways to help people improve their health starting with the HidrateSpark water bottle. Order your water bottle here and check out this 60 second video on Nadya below!

Fun fact, did you know the first know poet and author was a woman by the name of Enheduanna? She was a high priestess in the City of Ur. Enheduanna helped bring together the Sumerian cities through her religious work by consolidating all the local gods into the worship of one, Inanna, a relentless warrior goddess. One story struck a particular chord in me. Inanna needed to defeat a mountain, so she sought the help of the other bro gods, who naturally refused to help. Irritated by the lack of help Inanna singlehandedly destroyed the mountain and showed up the other gods. The story bears strong resemblance to our modern times.

The “mountain” is reflective of the struggles women face in our society. They have two options, one fight the mountain on their own without support. Or two resign to their systematic fate in the valley below. This culture angers me and it should not be this way. Entrepreneurship can be the warrior princess weapon to fight the “mountain.” However, in order to instill change we need to instill empowerment and alter our attitude towards women as soon as they are able to walk.

Take a stroll in a park and you’ll see how the system affects young girls on a daily basis. When a girl goes and picks up a football or a toy truck their parents immediately chastise them and say, “No, that is only for boys.” Or my all time favorite, “that is not very lady-like” when a girl states her opinion. No wonder we don’t see more powerful female giants across the world. What individual can grow up to be a leader when divisions are drawn and voices are silenced? We are to blame for the lack of leaders by raising a generation of women who are subservient to the system.

Therefore, creating a space by women for women is of radical importance to breaking the patriarchal system that binds them from their true potential. Creating events such Startup Weekend Women and even Startup Weekend Girls is a pivotal step in the right direction! The change needs to come from within, those who privilege from the culture are blinded to the oppression it creates. Only women understand and can decide what is best for their needs and how they can achieve triumph. Let women personify the goddess Inanna and follow in her footsteps, destroying the mountains that hamper progress. For when women finally achieve equality, balance will be restored to the world.

If you’re a female and you have ever attended a startup community event, you may have noticed that you might be one of few women in the room. You may have even been the only woman in the room. And you may have noticed that this is a common occurrence.

My co-organizers have all recognized the same thing I have seen: because women are often just a fraction of the attendees at a startup event, the focus and atmosphere just isn’t always conducive for women to truly participate comfortably – whether it be a pitchfest, hackathon, or hey – Startup Weekend.

This isn’t unique to startup culture, of course. Inequality in the workplace forms spaces where women aren’t able to contribute to their full potential. When it’s more difficult to be heard, the likelihood of stepping up into a role or responsibility is even more difficult. When you throw a tech-centric event into the mix, where women are typically outnumbered by men, the politics of gender, power, and privilege become a bigger issue. It’s already tough enough to step up in front of a lot of people, pitch an idea, and work the crowd! If you look out into a sea of faces and see very few faces that resemble your own, how encouraging is that? What if you’re introverted? What if you’re shy?

On top of the bravery it takes to stand up, pitch, and pour your heart and soul into a weekend of building a business, it’s a lot to face the dynamic created by inequality. We want to remove the pressure of that dynamic and provide a space where women can feel less like the minority, and more like the faces in the crowd are there to hear them out. As a women who have often been the only gals in the crowd, we know that it will make for an entirely different experience – for both women and men.

Overall, we really want to see women shine at this event. We want to see more women pitch, more women lead, and more women feeling empowered after leaving this event. We want to see this event make a difference in women’s lives and we’re excited to do this with Startup Weekend in sunny San Diego.

WE (Women Entrepreneurs) in Focus is a blog series initiated by Startup Weekend Women Hamburg, to showcase the stories of female entrepreneurs and to inspire and empower other women to turn their ideas into successful businesses. By interviewing female founders we tried to find out about the entrepreneurial spirit that drives these women, learn how they got started and what they wish they’d known before entering the start-up world.

We have interviewd a wide range of women, but despite all of their differences, these women have somethings in common – they are all great role models who are passionate, determined and committed to turning their ideas into reality, building successful businesses!

Here you find an overview of all interviews sorted by industry:

Commerce

Freya Oehle is founder of Spottster, an online shopping platform that makes it possible to track your favourite products in numerous online shops. The 24-year-old entrepreneur from Hamburg founded the startup in 2013, right after finishing her MBA.

Services

Sandra Roggow is founder of Kitchennerds, a platform that puts together professional chefs with food lovers allowing anyone to enjoy of an elaborated menu, freshly cooked by your private chef at the commodity of your own place.

Kathy and Jörg decided to turn their idea into reality with Besserbrauer. Their main product, called Die Braubox, includes the tools, the ingredients and of course the instructions to take you into the world of brewing your beer in your own kitchen.

Media and Gaming

In conversation with Melanie Taylor, co-founder of the gaming startup called Osmotic Studios. This startup makes games that have a special kind of atmosphere, evoking emotions through moral decisions or asking questions about society, life and everything.

Susanne Harnisch founded pikofilm, a film production company that specializes in telling digital stories, the core element is the documentary film. She also founded roleUP! – lvlUP your role models which portrays female role models with unusual jobs/hobbies.

Fashion

Founders Annika Busse and Andrea Noelle founded a eco-designer bag and accessories label with a charitable purpose: Beliya. Every purchase enables a child in Africa to attend school for one year and all items are made of distinguished upcycling materials.

Marianne Tochtermann & Jutta Schweiger turned their passion for fashion into profits. They started 7 Chic Avenue in the summer of 2013 in Hamburg, where they design “tops for everyday luxury”. They claim their brand 7 Chic Avenue stands for chic, exclusive and affordable silk blouses.

Other

Diana Knodel loves to share her passion for coding with others, that is why she founded App Camps – an organization that brings coding workshops into classrooms. App Camps offers learning resources that schools can use to teach basiscs of programming.

Jessica Brockmann is founder of mylocalscouts, a platform which connects tourism with greater good. It helps you to connect with local people called ‘local scouts’ that share your interests and help you to explore the city you’re currently visting.